CONS 102 (499A) – UBC: Achieving a Sustainable Campus (1 credit)

Explore how the campus works to achieve sustainability with respect to its daily operations, including planning, governance, transportation, water and energy systems, as well as related sustainability research.

This course is designed to provide an opportunity to interested students early on in their degree at UBC, to better understand and discuss what the university is doing with respect to sustainability related initiatives such as “UBC as a Living Lab”. It takes advantage of an existing 3 and 4^th level course (APSC 364) by sharing the public lecture component which is based on sustainability themes of governance, transportation, water and energy. Each lecture will comprise two perspectives. The first perspective is provided by campus operations staff (20 minutes), and the second by an active UBC researcher working in the same field (20 minutes). This will be followed by 45 minutes of group discussion with the presenters.

This new undergraduate course has no pre-requisites and is intended for students interested in sustainability who wish to improve their understanding of what UBC is doing on campus to meets its sustainability goals. Students will also learn about state of the art research in these areas by leading UBC faculty members. It is open to all students with a general interest in sustainability, particularly 1^st and 2^nd year Arts, Science, and Applied Science undergraduates. We will specifically market the students to first and second year students. As the lecture course content (and speakers) will vary each year, as will the readings and theme emphasis, students will be able to enrol in both CONS 102 and APSC 364 over their academic program, however not in the same year.

General Course Information

Schedule: January – April 2012, Tuesdays 3:30-5:00 pm
Location: McMillan 166
Credits: This is a 1 credit course offered in the Spring term.
Course Instructor: Dr. Nicholas Coops: nicholas.coops@ubc.ca
Office Hours: By appointment.
Pre-requisites: None. Open to all students with a general interest in sustainability, particularly 1^st and 2^nd year Arts, Science, and Applied Science undergraduates.